Second Amazon headquarters a tale of two cities

You're not doing Crystal City, VA any favors. "Citizens have no idea what their elected officials have promised to a company headed by the richest person on earth".

"One of the questions that I'm left with following this reporting that there might be two cities instead of just one.is whether this will change the incentives that some of the cities are offering in their draft plan", Axios reporter Shannon Vavra told Cheddar Tuesday. That would place the operations in an area of Queens directly across the East River from Manhattan.

Over the past weekend, The Washington Post reported that Northern Virginia's Crystal City was in advanced talks with Amazon for the second headquarters. Not far behind is Newark, New Jersey, which announced $7 billion in incentives to attract the company.

The HQ2 split also could help Amazon ease the same degree of congestion and jump in costs of living that led to unrest in Seattle. "When you get into the clutter of Queens and Manhattan and that area, and you've got a little bit of busyness in the Arlington area because of D.C., it's not sure what the advantage is to Amazon of having a headquarters there, other than just being close to D.C. if they want to talk to regulators, and close to NYC because it's the biggest city in the country", Clouse said. Amazon also said it was looking for communities that offer a "stable and business-friendly" environment and access to mass transit. Each location gave the company detailed information about its local labor markets, real estate situation, transportation infrastructure and regional educational institutions, according to the requirements in Amazon's request for proposal document. Collectively, Amazon will still hire a total of 50,000 new employees.

The two cities to be chosen aren't known, nor when they will be named, though the New York Times reported Monday they will be Northern Virginia and New York City. Instead of Arlington, Virginia, Sperling suggests that Amazon should consider building its own community in Oatlands, Virginia, which is now rural and undeveloped, but still relatively close to D.C.

Since it kicked off its hunt for a second headquarters in September 2017, Amazon has promised to bring 50,000 new high-paying jobs to one location, which founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said would be "a full equal" to its Seattle home base.

Amazon.com Inc.'s yearlong search for a second headquarters is nearing an end, people with knowledge of the matter said.

There also have been concerns that Amazon would suck up all of New York's top tech talent, which is in short supply. Earlier this year, Amazon unveiled plans for an office expansion in Boston's Seaport District, promising 2,000 new technology jobs by 2021 in fields including machine learning and robotics. Amazon already employs more than 900 people in Austin. That's expected to increase as it builds more warehouses across the country to keep up with online orders.

"There's also a lot of folks online who are giving Amazon flack for not necessarily considering cities and locations that are more rural and considered mid-America where a job injection could be particularly helpful", Vavra said.

Earlier this month, Bezos said during an on-stage interview in NY that the final decision will come down to intuition.

Comments

Latest Posts

WWF: 60% of wildlife wiped out
The report is a warning that signifies that humanity's expanding greed for resources would suffice the extension of the wildlife. We are in the midst of a scary phenomenon right now being called " the Great Acceleration ".

Sarri Silent On Loan Prospects For Moses
The Spaniard's form is a real positive for a Chelsea side that has perhaps been over-reliant on Hazard's brilliance this campaign. Crystal Palace have become somewhat of a bogey team for Chelsea , winning two of the past three games at Stamford Bridge.

Alec Baldwin Arrested After Fight Over Parking Spot
Police say the actor was taken into custody Friday afternoon just before 2 p.m.in Manhattan's West Village neighborhood. Actor Alec Baldwin was arrested Friday for assault related to an issue over a parking spot in NY , police report .

Turkey to be exempted from US sanctions on Iran: minister
The administration has insisted that the sanctions were aimed at changing Tehran's behaviour rather than regime change. Even if Iran can continue to sneak oil out of its ports, it will find it hard to get the cash into its accounts.

UN says war-torn Yemen 'living hell' for children
His plea came shortly after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis spoke in unusual detail about diplomacy to end the crisis. Riyadh had declared at the start of the invasion that the war would take no more than a couple of weeks.

Trump expects 'very good' trade deal with China
China's latest economic indicators suggest the trade war is having a bigger and quicker impact on the economy than expected. Trump and Xi are expected to meet later this month on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Argentina.